Casket-carrier



C. F. PETTKOSKE.

GASKET CARRIER.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 20, |920.

Patented Apr. 12, 1921.

CLEOPHAS F. PETTKOSKE, OF CHICAGO, ILLIOIS.

GASKET-CARRIER.

Specification of Letters Eatent.

Patented Api-.12, 1921.

Application filed September 20, 1920. Serial No. 411,506.

To all whom 'it may concern.'

Be it known that I, CLnoPHAs F. PETT- iiosiin, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State ofillinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Casket-Carriers, of which the following is a specilication.

The invention relates to improvements in casket carriers.

One of the objects of the invention is the provision of a carrier frame,upon which to rest a casket by which it may be carried by personswalking at the ends instead of at the sides of the casket, and which endhandles are supplementary to the side handles attached to the casket.

Another object of the invention is to provide wheels on one end of theframe upon which the casket may be trundled when necessity requires thismode of progress.

Other, further and more specific objects of the invention will becomereadily apparent, to persons skilled in the art, from a Vconsiderationof the following description when taken in conjunction with thedrawings, wherein :h

Figure 1 shows a plan view of the frame structure.

F ig. 2 is a side elevation showing the position of the casket in dottedlines.

In both views the same reference characters are employed to indicatesimilar parts.

Most caskets are provided with handles only upon the sides and whencarrying a heavily laden casket down a relatively narrow stairway, theside handles are not available and, therefore, the entire burden fallsupon a smaller number of pallbearers who must necessarily seize thefront and rear ends which are unprovided with handles.

The object of this invention is to provide supplementary handles at eachend of the casket sufficiently extensive to be grasped and held by twopersons, when needed, at each end of the casket. The carrier is alsoprovided with two rollers at one end so that the casket may be rolled ortrundled from one stairway to another across a relatively narrow landingplatform usually located between two sections of winding stairways. Thedevice is also convenient when the casket `is to be carried through arelatively narrow doorway, in which event the burden bearers on eachside of the casket give way to those persons who have hold of the endhandles provided by the frame, or who change their positions from thesides'to the ends of the casket, thereby more conveniently passingthrough the doorway.

The frame illustrated consists of two side members 5 and 6 joined byl anend member 7 which is upturned atV 8 and afords a handle to be locatedat one end of the casket when the casket is mounted upon the frame. Theother end of the frame is joined by a cross member 9 which is alsoupturned and provides a handle. Journaled in projections 10, from thehandle 9, is an axle 11 which carries two wheels 12 and 13. Tostrengthen the structure, cross rungs 14, 15 and 16 are secured to theside members 5 and 6. A series of spurs 17 are fixed to the side members5 and 6 at intervals, intended to engage the bottom surface of thecasket to prevent it slipping 'sidewise from the frame. The casket 19 isshown in position on the frame in dottedlines in Fig. 2. The handles 7and 9 are upturned above the frame members 5 and 6 so as to locate thecenter of gravity at or below the handles and, for the further purpose,being upturned, they are more easily grasped than if they were in thesame horizontal plane with the frame members. The cross member 9 forms ashoulder, as at 18, for one end of the casket so that when the otherend, where the handle 7 is located, is elevated, as shown in dottedlines in Fig. 2, for the purpose of moving the casket on the rollers 12and 13, the shoulder 18 will prevent the casket from raising up on theobliquely inclined portion of the handle 9. The frame structure, or thedistance of separation of the side members 5 and 6 substantially equalsthe width of the average casket, so that the frame will not projectmaterially beyond the transverse dimensions of the casket and occupy anexcessive amount of space on the stairway. The trestles upon which thecasket is to rest at the end of the journey, may be of such length thatthey may easily be included between the side members 5 and 6 and betweenthe cross members 14 and 15, and 15-'16, respectively, so that when thecasket is brought to these supports, the frame may be released and moveddownwardly until it rests upon the floor.

Having described my invention what claim as new and desire to Secure byLetters Patent is A casket carrier comprising an elongated rectangularframe7 having` end members and. Side members, Said end members extendingupwardly from the siole members and serving as end handles for thecasket to be carried thereon7 a pair ofiXed shoulders formed by bendingthe side members vertically and 10 outwardly at the junction of one endmember and each side member and a wheel pivoted near each' shoulder.

. In testimony whereof l hereunto sub. scribe my name.

oLnoPHAS r. rnfrfrirosim.

